(Newser)
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Designer Marc Jacobs is flouting fashion industry recommendations by sending 14-year-old models down his catwalk. “I do the show the way I think it should be, not the way somebody tells me it should be,” Jacobs told the New York Times after his Manhattan presentation. "There is no controversy." Health initiative guidelines set by the Council of Fashion Designers of America—which includes Jacobs on its board—recommend that runway models be at least 16 years old. The age limit has been touted as a sign of progress in an industry plagued by anorexia. "The industry's hiring of prepubescent-appearing teenage girls as models of adult clothing sets an unrealistic standard; the curves that define the female figure are absent," said council president Diane von Furstenburg. Models who attempt to maintain a child's body into adulthood "run the risk of eating disorders," she warned.

The girls in Jacobs' show, Thairine Garcia and Ondria Hardin, are represented by Ford Models, which apparently also ignores the council's recommendations. While Ford supports the idea of health initiatives, it hasn't agreed to an age limit, reports ABC. Even the council itself said it's ultimately up to a designer. What's curious is why Jacobs decided to use the girls in designs that largely covered them up, and shadowed them with large hats. Maybe it's because the hats, as the Times points out, were "Dr.Seuss-style." The "cleaning staff could have been under those hats, and nobody would have been the wiser," quips writer Eric Wilson.

The fashion industry is one of the dirtiest, unhealthiest, unfriendliest known to society anywhere on this planet, where greed, favor-base-Elite-style prostitution, drugs and every other societal moral Ills that we know exist and being practiced! Ouf! Yet, it is the most glamorized, publicized and celebrated through all the organs of socioeconomic medias and classes, believe or not from the poorest of folks to the richest! Look at the political and social elites who so proudly advertize their designers, from both ends of Penn ave (DC) to Beverly hills and Hollywood... Yet, it is the least regulated industry around. So much for the "political campaign" against obesity...These voices should even be stronger in denouncing the "unhealthy abuses" of these international gangs of fashion!!The shame is on all of us who want to stick a label on our garments and our butts to feel good about ourselves... Shame ...shame...shame on ALL, from these mothers (fathers? I doubt it!) who are sacrificing proudly I may add, the mental,physical and moral welfare of their children for some fame and fortune, and the rest of society!

BoRainier

Feb 17, 2012 12:56 PM CST

Is disgusting that Marc Jacobs wants to send a message to women telling them that a 14 years old's body is the body they should have to look good in his clothes. all this designer crap is way overpriced for what people gets.!